Thursday, May 4, 2017

our funny little house

i had been thinking about this post for a few days. and then finally decided to do it. even tho the day i chose to take the pictures was rainy and grey. but i realized how much i enjoyed looking at my blog friends' houses. some are renovating, some just put up pics of certain rooms or some such thing. and i realized that i had never done a proper tour of Framboise Manor. no worries kids - it only costs 5 bucks and we accept paypal, visa, checque or money order for your convenience. click any of the pics to enlarge and see all of the dust and cat hair!

Framboise Manor starts at the deck that jambaloney originally wrapped in plastic and then built walls and windows from stuff he found in the garbage in order to enclose it like a proper porch.

i love it and so do the cats!there's a door at the front and back and 4 cat doors. there's my sister C's cabinet on the left and matching white shoe rack just beside it. the bins are for dirty dishes as at this time of the year the dishwasher is still in the basement. it's coming back up to the porch this week - HALLELUJAH!

here is one side of the kitchen with the barbie fridge and stove. i can't wait to have regular-sized appliances!

here is the other side of the kitchen with my table that works as extra counter space with K ampersand J carved into it. oh and Munkley-Spontooch with the devil eyes.

jambaloney built that extra cupboard space for me. i love the way it looks!

here is the kitchen past the table. with the greenhouse in the house for starting seeds. normally the white hutch thingy is up against the back wall beside the door but for seed-starting purposes it moves out front of the other cool hutch thingy that jambaloney built me. and that's the back end of Edgar Houdini aka The Rat.

this is the kitchen from the upstairs...not very big but with the two hutch things that jambaloney built it has been livable.

this was a section of wall that really wasn't doing anything. jambaloney built me a floor to ceiling place to put all of our dishes and our pots and some pans hanging off of it.

this is the funny little hallway from the kitchen to the bedroom and bathroom. notice the handle on the wall?

this is another unused space that jambaloney built me another floor to ceiling storage cupboard. my sister C told another friend that jambaloney had built me a cupboard out of a wall. needless to say, a funny conversation ensued. here is the wall-cupboard.

thank The Lord for these wall cupboards that he built for me!!! opposite the wall cupboard is our bedroom. and by bedroom, i mean a room full of bed! have a look-see:

i am a bed hog. i roll and toss and turn all night long sometimes ending up upside down. so that is a queenbed smashed up against a doublebed. and it fills the whole room. jambaloney built the frame and we have 8 long rows under the bed for prep storage.

this is the entry to the bathroom.

it is L-shaped so this is looking at the sink from the toilet area. and there's another wall-contraption-cupboard that jambaloney built. also good for bathroom prep storage.

and here is the toilet area.

this is looking up from the kitchen stairs to the living room.

the torn-up box on the stairs is "The Rat Box". we left the box there one day and he started scratching it and so we left it there for him.

here's a bit of a better picture of the living room/dining room. all of the wood furniture refinished by jambaloney. of note, all of my collected encyclopaedias.

here's looking at the other end of the living room/dining room. more encyclopaedias.

this is the little shelf on the stairs is a collection of our most useful and relied on books.

this is the strange little hallway between the living room, pantry and computer room.

here is a pic of our preps area that jambaloney built.

i removed a bunch of our preps so that you could see how deep it goes.

and finally our computer room. we're still working on it. all of the cables and cords that you see are not normally placed like that.

but as we lost our internet for a week, jambaloney did a full diagnostic and wanted all of the cords/routers/etc. available for the technicians.

and here is the other side of the room.

this house was built in 2 parts and is very awkward space-wise. we are planning an addition, a sunroom which will be built off of the kitchen. it will allow for moving things around and give us, and 4 cats more room...and cat doors.

Kymber...not crappy at all, it's YOURS. Our cottage is what I'd call "cozy crappy" lol...but if I owned it, I wouldn't call it anything but HOME. I LOVE your kitchen!!! Your porch is LOVELY!! Love the cupboards and your living room! And of course, I've already told you I'm totally stealing your BED room idea when we move...Alex and I love to be in bed, sleeping, snacking, watching movie (cuddling!)...with 6 pets and maybe more when we buy our own place, we'll need a HUGE bed!!! xx

Rain - it is a little crappy and we are ok with that - we have some gawd-awful made-up stucco on the walls in the dining room/living room. but we just live with it. the porch is a godsend and gives us a place to put stuff - like the dishwasher!!! as for the bed...when you get your forever home, build a bed from wall-to-wall. it makes reading, snacking, having, supper, cuddling...and other stuff that i will not mention - a lot more fun. because there is no chance of rolling off and hitting the floor! you get my drift? bahahahahaha! xoxoxo

Rollin' off the bed ain't so bad lol... ;) For us it's also more about location and land. The property will have to have a house, because we won't have the means to build one, but we will be happy with a real fixer upper that has enough room for the two of us and the pets - plus potential to add on. Oh yea, the wall to wall bed is something Alex and I already talked about years ago! We want the wall to wall bed with a big screen tv in the bedroom - not necessarily for tv, we're not sure we'll pay for that, but definitely to watch movies! We also want to somehow make movable trays for food and drinks, and also for our laptops...the bedroom is our most important room of the house, besides the kitchen!!! :)

thank you Kelly - i am glad that you enjoyed the tour! i love seeing my internet friends' houses and land and gardens so i thought maybe i should do a tour of our house. and the giant monster bed thing - it can save marriages! bahahahahaha! xox

Mike - we just got the indoor bathroom the day before yesterday - bahahahahah! you nutter! but ya - we have come a long way from having to boil snow to get water and bathing in bins. you've been with us since the beginning so you remember all of the crazies! xoxo

thank you sooo much Norene! we do our best as does anyone who cares and tries. i love the red, too! red makes me really happy - especially in the kitchen! xoxo. i hope to see you around here more often!

Thank you for the house tour. I really enjoyed seeing each room and now have a picture in my mind when you talk about your lovely little house. It is indeed lovely and I can only imagine the work you and Jambaloney put into making it look so pretty and functional. Your enthusiasm is uplifting as always. I don't comment often but I think I have read every one of your posts since the very first one.

gmv - i know that you have been around since the beginning...and even when you don't comment i know that you are there. we have several followers who don't comment but every now and again pop their heads up to let us know that they are there. we are very grateful that people like you spend the time to read our posts and kind of be there with us. we thank you very much for your friendship. xoxo

Wow, Kymber. I am really impressed. The inside of your house is so nice, it could be in "Southern Living" magazine! Everything is so neat, and so comfortable. I think you and my wife would really like each other, as she has a similar flair for making our home look warm and comfortable. I'm glad you did this post, it was really fun to take the tour.

Your house is lovely! Mine is just a pig sty since having kids (in fairness to the kids it was bad before), I love yours, north American houses always seem so spacious compared to ours over here. I can't get over how big your bed is though, you could have a party in that thing!

Everything is so TIDY! love it! I love your kitchen and the view out of the window is to die for! Your kitchen is large by English standards. it looks well organised.

Love your wall to wall bed. We have a super king and I wont part with it. Fab that it has underbed storage for all your prep. *taps side of nose* I like your thinking. Prep being at the front of my mind at present.

Ive never seen a storage unit like that for going over the loo. Not that I have ever looked for one, but I have never seen that in a house over here.

My fav rooms are the porch and the prep room. Everyone know I love a really good sized porch. No shoe in this house. nuh uh! :)

About Framboise Manor

Framboise Manor is our Bug-Out Location (BOL) that we have been living in since December 2010. As can be seen by the above picture - calling it simply a "Manor" doesn't do it justice - we bet you think it is more like an "Estate", eh?

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Who Are We?

we are jambaloney and kymber. here's a pic of us below...we look very happy and content. it's because we really are!

About jambaloney

(he's only 23 in this pic...he has 20+years of additional muscle now...if you can believe it!)

kymber here and talking about jambaloney.

i've always called him my angel. my rock. my best half. the best part of what i have always wanted to become.

he has a soul as big as the biggest mountain, he is strong, he is in incredible physical condition, he is 51 and yet most people think he is under 40. he is humble and modest, charming, gorgeous and will help anyone with anything at anytime. he never grumbles and only every now and again complains or is a tiny bit cranky (nothing that a hug can't fix!). he can cut both sides out of 70 tires in minutes, build raised beds from scrap wood that he drags out of the forest, weedwhack 800ft of our road down to the river, and haul more wheelbarrows of dirt, mulch, rocks and seaweed than is probably medically-advised. he's learned how to braid, make bread and no one makes better rice - not even the chinese. he supports my every, crazy endevour. he went 44 years without a driver's license and got his license after being trained by my crazily-wonderful french canadian friend in 2 weeks. she never stopped talking the whole time. in french.

he has biked everywhere his entire life, at one job he biked 24km EACH WAY. that's to and from! 24km to work AND 24km from work! oh and just accidentally has an honours degree in philosophy.

i believe that he is Our Lord's most beautiful and perfect creation. but i might be biased. he can very accurately shoot a ben pearson cougar re-curve from both the left and right. and his aim is dead on.

he is bow-legged and only 5'7", but has the most incredible eyes. and a tiny mole on his upper lip. he writes the most romantic "insta-poems". he tells me he loves me several times a day. he calls me "babe" and "honey". and he means it.he loves hot sauce and spicey things like cayenne and banana peppers, he buys (or now picks) me flowers, he left a lucrative, high-paying IT job and his family to follow me here to this remote little island. he builds me shelves and washes all of our laundry with me by hand.

oh and he was baptized Anglican. and was an alter boy. sheesh. somehow, through my intervention, i am turning him into a pagan-christian-fundamentalist-confuscian. look, even i can't figure that out!

the name jambaloney is a nickname that i gave him over 10 years ago. he still uses it. he can be reached at "jambaloney@gmail.com". he loves comments or emails. and he loves me.

if i were given the opportunity to wish one thing for the world - i would wish that every woman on the planet had a jambaloney. i know that i could save the world this way. i have friends who have asked me to clone him. i am trying. believe me, i am trying. one day i will perfect the science involved, and when that happens, i promise all of you a jambaloney.

i love him more than...breathing, lobster, boiled dinner, fresh bread out of the oven, bugging out, singing back up for Madonna (ok...i made that one up!), fresh sheets on the bed, a glass of red wine after a long day, sunflower seeds, lavender, growing my own potatoes, T.S. Eliot, dancing, my babies (who are really just cranky old cats!) and the Bible.

i love him more than i love Framboise Manor. and i really love Framboise Manor.

About kymber

(this pic might seem odd. trust me, it's not. 20 yrs ago kymber went shopping with a girlfriend from the military and bought this dress. then she hooked up with that girlfriend recently. they caught up through email and one day kymberz friend mentioned that specific dress. kymber said she still had it (kymber still has her prom gown for crying out loud!). the friend did not believe it. so we had to take a pic of kymber wearing the 20yr old dress for her friend. kymber always likes to add accessories...and well, we had the bunny ears laying around. ya know, cuz everyone always has pink bunny ears laying around. ok, that's it...i am out of here! jambaloney)

what can i say about kymber?? A LOT!!most of it will have to wait for blog entries ‘cuz i just don’t have enough space here to do her justice…

so i’ll have to do my best… first and foremost, kymber is my partner and i will love her forever. she is the best partner anyone could ever have, i am one lucky guy!! she is 46, she is sweet as can be, smart as a whip, super cute, exceptionally feminine, strong as an ox, honest, kind, empathetic, wise, an amazing dancer, a master wit in speaking and writing….i could go on..i will!

at 5’ 1’’ she packs a wallop – a true force of nature -she is a master gardener and chef and spent 10 years in the Canadian Military – she has done 2 tours of Alert (the north bloody-cold pole). she is a UN-certified Korean linguist and spoils our 2 cats rotten. she also spent 12yrs working in the federal government, as a communications analyst at SolGen (now PSEPC) and Fintrac. she loves nature in the true sense of the phrase..the wildflowers, insects and birds here at framboise manor keep her entranced and captivated for hours.

anyone who is her friend knows that she will stop at nothing to help and heal, dedication and loyalty are an integral part of who she is and she is dead serious about anything she puts her mind to. yet she maintains the most delicate touch and a smile on her face always, never afraid to live and love no matter where and when.

she is the most genuine human being i have ever met! and she has encouraged me to embark on the most crazy and exciting adventure i could imagine… thank you babe - i sooo love you!!!